The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 44: Exchange for Rice

The driver at the bus station takes good care of his car and really doesn't want others to touch it. When teaching an apprentice, he is also afraid that the apprentice will damage the car due to improper operation.

In addition to time and car issues, there are many other factors that make drivers reluctant to take in apprentices. Moreover, if they do take in apprentices, they will only take in people who are related to them. If Master Feng drove in the company, everyone might give him some face.

His son has taken over this job, and when people introduce Master Feng in the future, they may just refer to him as a 'former colleague', which means he won't have much face to give.

Now, Stationmaster Xu of the transport station has set his sights on Jiang Cheng, who is still out transporting goods. Although everyone has not spent many days with him, they find him easy to talk to and enthusiastic.

Jiang Cheng didn't know what happened at the transport station. He didn't load any goods at Huangshan when he came back. Instead, he went to Jingdezhen to load a few boxes of ceramic bowls and brought them back to Changcheng. They also gave Jiang Cheng a few large bowls.

It took Jiang Cheng only one day to go from Huangshan City to Jingdezhen to load the goods and then return to Changcheng. After returning to Changcheng to unload the goods, it was almost dark. Jiang Cheng did not go back to the transportation station, but drove directly back to Nanluo Courtyard where he lived.

This trip meant that he hadn't returned for more than ten days. The car was parked on the roadside outside the courtyard alley. Jiang Cheng carried two sacks, one large and one small, and walked into the alley to return to his residence in the courtyard.

"Master Jiang, you have so many bags, you must have just driven back from another place."

"Brother Zhang, I went to Yancheng, Jiangsu to deliver some goods and just came back today."

"What do you have in this bag? It looks heavy."

"Some good stuff, Brother Zhang, do you want to come in and take a look?"

As soon as Jiang Cheng entered the yard, he was seen by many neighbors. However, the first person to greet him was Zhang Yang, the neighbor across the street. He was also the first person Jiang Cheng met when he first came here.

In the past ten days, the new resident Jiang Cheng has not been seen, and everyone has been thinking about his identity. They all guessed that he might have gone out of town to deliver goods, so when he came back, he was carrying things, so Zhang Yang directly asked him if he drove back from another place.

When Zhang Yang heard Jiang Cheng say there was something good, he immediately helped Jiang Cheng carry the sack so that he could use the key to open the door.

After the two men entered the room one after another, Jiang Cheng opened the large sack, which was filled with dried kelp.

Kelp is as hard to buy inland as hairtail. It's not a matter of variety, but transportation. All seafood is hard to buy, but this kelp can be used to make soup, cut into strips and stir-fried, and is easy to store.

In Changcheng, only a few supply and marketing cooperatives sell it, and you can only buy it in the vegetable markets in coastal cities. And even if the kelp is transported from the coastal areas, it is first intercepted inside the supply and marketing cooperatives.

For example, Zhu Lan, a salesperson at the supply and marketing cooperative who lived in the backyard, told Jiang Cheng that some good things would not be immediately available at their supply and marketing cooperative. They would notify some people internally to buy them, and only when the quantity was really large would they sell them to ordinary people.

Zhang Yang's eyes widened when he saw the half sack of dried kelp. He worked in an enamel factory, which was a good company. During the New Year and other festivals, they directly distributed washbasins and water cups, and they could also buy some enamel bowls every month. But compared with Jiang Cheng's casual trip and bringing so much dried kelp, it was nothing. "Master Jiang, can you sell me some?" Zhang Yang asked. He asked him to come in to see the things, not just to show off in front of him.

"Of course, I can't finish this much kelp in a year by myself. But I traveled more than 2,000 kilometers back and forth to bring back this kelp, and I can't just sell it casually. Brother Zhang, can you give me a favor?" Jiang Cheng took out a cigarette and handed it to Zhang Yang, saying.

The cigarettes were of the Hongmei brand, 26 cents a pack, not very high-end. But for workers, they were good cigarettes, ordinary smokers really couldn't afford them, even some cadres who smoked heavily only smoked cigarettes that cost around 15 cents.

Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day would cost you 7-8 yuan a month. Many people cannot stop smoking a pack a day, and many cigarettes require coupons to buy. Only cheap cigarettes do not require coupons, and many people even roll their own cigarettes or buy them loose.

Zhang Yang took the cigarette, took out a match and lit it for Jiang Cheng first, then lit his own. This is how social status is. When facing elders or people of higher status, you have to light cigarettes for others first.

"Master Jiang, if you need my help, I will definitely try my best to help you." Zhang Yang said seriously. In this courtyard, everyone hopes to have a good relationship with Jiang Cheng. If they need help one day, especially if Jiang Cheng's car can be used, it will be a great honor.

"It's simple. When you go to work, ask your colleagues if they want the kelp. One pound of fine grain plus 60 cents can be exchanged for one pound of dried kelp. I have so much kelp here, and it will be gone after the exchange."

Jiang Cheng explained his purpose. He drove a Yellow River heavy truck, which was a physically demanding and technical job. It was true that he had a ration of 40 kilograms. But the ration was 30% fine grains and 70% coarse grains, which meant that he could only eat a little more than 10 kilograms of rice and flour per month. The rest were coarse grains, which included corn flour, dried sweet potatoes, potato flour, corn, millet, etc.

As for sweet potatoes and potatoes, because they contain a lot of water, they are not even considered coarse grains in this era, but have to be considered mixed grains.

The ration of 40 kilograms, whether it is coarse grains or fine grains, is not enough for Jiang Cheng to eat alone without oil and water. He has to get married and support a wife, and there is a family in his hometown who needs his support. So Jiang Cheng wants to get some fine grains to eat by exchanging things. As for coarse grains, he doesn't like them.

The coarse grains of later generations were processed in a refined way and were more expensive than fine grains.

But the coarse grains of the time, cornmeal, were not cornmeal, but whole corn cobs that were crushed together. The fuzzy corn cobs would scratch your throat when you drink them, and the cornmeal steamed bread was not tasty either, it was gray, not the yellow one you see in movies and TV shows.

Jiang Cheng could eat cornmeal steamed bread or pancakes every day, but forget about cornmeal ones. Especially in the countryside, cornmeal is not very good. When making cornmeal, wild vegetables are added to it, making it black.

Now a pound of grain costs 16 cents, and you need a grain coupon to buy it. The price of dried kelp here is 80 or 90 cents, and it only costs 60 cents plus a pound of fine grain, which means Jiang Cheng has also taken the other party's grain coupon price into account. Although kelp does not require coupons, it can still be bought in inland cities when it is in short supply, compared to some things that require coupons.

So when Zhang Yang heard Jiang Cheng's exchange, he was pleasantly surprised. How could this be asking him for help? Jiang Cheng had to find someone to exchange for these dozens of kilograms of kelp, and that person would owe him a favor.

Kelp is a nutritional supplement these days. If there are pregnant women or people who have just given birth at home, they will know that Zhang Yang can get dried kelp, and they will have to ask him for help.

(End of this chapter)